Green’s 3-point shooting helped Spurs keep Grizzlies at bay

SAN ANTONIO – In Game 1, Danny Green did it with his defense. In Game 2, it was his shooting that stood out.

Green scored 12 points on 4 of 5 from 3-point range to help the Spurs claim a 96-82 win over Memphis on Monday night and secure a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.

In Game 1’s 111-82 win, Green scored just two points after missing both of his 3-point attempts. But that didn’t stop him from standing out defensively with four blocks, a steal and a shut-down effort on Memphis star point guard Mike Conley, who was held to 13 points, seven below his season average.

“If I make shots great, but Pop (Spurs coach Gregg Popovich) doesn’t care about it that much,” Green said. “The reason I get the minutes I get is because of defense.”

But on Monday night, it was Green’s offensive play that pushed him into the spotlight.

Green’s biggest basket in Game 2 triggered a 10-2 run by the Spurs that gave them a 90-75 lead with 3:20 left in the game. After a Zach Randolph hook shot pulled the Grizzlies within 80-75, Green sank a 3 on a designed play coming out of a timeout to give the Spurs some much-needed breathing room.

“Pop drew up a pretty good play for me coming off the bench,” Green said. “It kind of got broke up a little bit, but luckily it still got executed.”

On the other end, Green again showed off his defensive chops, blocking a layup attempt by Conley that led to a Kawhi Leonard layup. Green followed that gem by grabbing a rebound off a Conley missed 3-pointer to ignite a possession that ended with Pau Gasol draining a 3-pointer to make it 88-75 with 5 minutes left.

“It was a big stretch,” Green said. “They were closing in on us.”

In the fourth quarter, Green connected on 2 of 3 from downtown to help the Spurs wrap up the win by outscoring the Grizzlies 45-40 in the period.

With his four long-distance buckets, Green passed Peja Stojakovic into 25th place in the NBA record book for career 3-pointers made with 164. He also leapfrogged Bruce Bowen (161) into second place in the franchise playoff chart to trail only Manu Ginobili (309).